MP Babanga’s thanksgiving ceremony opens new chapter of unity

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What began as a personal thanksgiving for the newly sworn in Member of Parliament (MP) for Terego East Constituency on Sunday (May 31) evening quickly became the most significant political signal to emerge from Northern Uganda this year.

Wilfred Erima Babanga’s homecoming and thanksgiving service in Omiugo sub-county drew more than 10 MPs from across West Nile and Acholi sub-region turning a family celebration into a rare public display of cross-regional unity.

For decades, the politics of Northern Uganda has been shaped by historical divides. The West Nile–Acholi fault line, worsened by conflict and resource competition, often played out in Parliament, with development budgets lobbied for by each group separately.

MP Wilfred Babanga right with fellow MPs during his thanksgiving ceremony

As a result, infrastructure, such as roads, stopped at district borders. But the new leaders are now seeking to bury the differences and fight for the holistic development of the greater northern Uganda.

MP Babanga's thanksgiving celebration was crowned by a mouthwatering football game between a select team from Lamwo and their counterparts from Terego East. In his speech, Babanga commended the new spirit of unity in Terego district where all leaders sat together under one shade, a gesture that had eluded the district for years.

Babanga said they were committed to support each other as MPs from northern Uganda since they share similar challenges.

“You saw MPs from different sub-regions exhibiting a gesture of unity; we want to set a new tradition of holding each other’s hands, and what you saw was not only a gesture but a robust endorsement of what we want to do in the next five years. We shall support each other’s motions and ensure solidarity and collaboration,” he said.

Babanga, who ousted the former state minister for Internal Affairs, Obiga Kania, said he has lined up a number of programmes aimed at addressing the socio-economic needs of the voters.

Johnson Kezekiya Nyeko, the MP for Lamwo County in Acholi sub-region, led a team of business people and football players in a show of solidarity to the event. Nyeko, who is also an accomplished entrepreneur, offered free transport for all West Nile MPs to ferry cassava cuttings from Acholi sub-region.

“We met at Kyankwanzi during the leadership retreat and we found ourselves in one dormitory and started helping each other, and said; why can’t we take this back home and here we are, we have never looked back. We are going to support each other, and this unity should help alleviate poverty in greater North,” Nyeko said.

The Maracha East MP, Dr Tom Candia Aliti, is optimistic that the unity currently exhibited among the MPs from West Nile and Acholi sub-region will help bring socio-economic transformation in the greater Northern Uganda.

“We want to enhance household income, and we can only do that when there is unity of purpose, and we need to have a very strong parliamentary caucus such that we lobby as a region in collaboration with other regions of Northern Uganda like Acholi, Lango, Karamoja and Teso,” Aliti explained.

The youths of Lamwo and Terego getting ready for the football game

Emmanuel Natal Banya, the Koboko County MP, called on the legislators to exemplify the unity in the local communities whose mindset is still negative about co-existence between the West Nile and Acholi communities.

“This unity should not only stop with us, the leaders; it should also involve the electorate. Our people should equally understand the need to collaborate and co-exist peacefully,” Banya pleaded.

Pader district woman MP Lowila Oketayot noted that by leaders coming together as a team, it will make them achieve their desired goals with ease.

“Leaders must unite and work as a team because it is through this collaboration that our leadership can yield results. I pledge to put before parliament issues of West Nile and support them fully during plenary,” Oketayot said.

The relationship between West Nile and Acholi MPs had been worsened by the Apaa land conflict, which resulted into bloodshed. The Apaa land is claimed by the Acholi in Amuru district and Madi from Adjumani district.